It must be so cool to read 'em as they were originally written! I'm jealous I always wonder what I'm missing out on when I read translated works.

I have read a couple of translated Kafka works (since I've got nothing better to do) and I was surprised how well-translated all of them were. Admittedly, there isn't much that could possibly get lost when translating Kafka as his writing style is rather austere and plain. On the other hand I must say that I was pretty shocked when I compared English translations of Rilke to the German originals. Poor Rilke, even after his death people manage to fuck with his words.